1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a braking system for a tape player and it relates especially to a braking system for preventing a tape reel from overrunning when stopping the fast forward or rewinding travel of a tape.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the recent tape players, there is employed an automatic music selection mechanism which automatically selects a desired one of many music selections recorded on a tape. The automatic music selection mechanism is such that, after setting the tape player for the fast forward or rewinding travel of the tape, it detects on the tape traveling at high speed a zone between two successive music selections where no sound is recorded, the existence of such a soundless zone causing the tape player to return to the normal state of reproduction.
In case such an automatic music selection mechanism is employed, if the tape is not immediately shifted to the low speed travel when the tape is shifted from the fast forward or rewinding travel at the high speed, the beginning of a selected or detected music selection will overrun the head and thus not be reproduced. To avoid this, the solution has been taken by which the pinch rollers are kept off the capstan against the force of a spring during the fast forward or rewinding travel of tape and, when the beginning of a music selection is detected and the tape is shifted to the normal travel, the spring force is utilized to instantaneously force the pinch rollers to the capstan, thus reducing the speed of tape travel. In such a conventional arrangement, however, when the tape is shifted to the fast forward or rewinding travel, it is necessary to move the pinch rollers from the capstan against the spring force, which leads to the necessity of an extremely great force for operation of the pinch roller shifting mechanism, such as a solenoid, switching lever, etc.
Recently, a tape player has been proposed in which to reduce the operating force necessary for shifting the tape to the fast forward or rewinding travel, the driving force of the motor is utilized to force the pinch rollers, etc. from the capstan, or to shift the head to and from the tape. In such a case the driving force of the motor is utilized, however, the time required for the pinch rollers to return from the off position to the on position is rather long as compared with the conventional spring-operated mechanism. Accordingly, when the operation for music selection is intended, if the reel base is stopped against rotation by any means after shifting the tape from the fast forward or rewinding travel, the pinch rollers will be forced onto the capstan so that the inertia yielded by the high-speed rotation for the fast forward or rewinding travel will cause the aforementioned soundless zone between two successive musics recorded on the tape to overrun the reproduction head while the tape is returned to the low-speed travel, thus creating the likelihood that a selected or desired music cannot be reproduced from its beginning.